Taylor and the Twisted Game Part 32 (Patreon)

Nynaeve al'Meara walked out of the workshop and froze when she saw a tall blue skinned woman with long pointed ears standing in front of a familiar peddler's wagon. 'Is that an ogier?' she asked herself as she walked over to investigate, fairly sure Ogier didn't have purple skin but not sure what else the woman could be since she didn't seem hostile despite the fact that Wit Congar seemed to be badgering her about something. "What's going on?"

"I was just asking her what happened to Fain," Wit Congar replied defensively.

"And I told you, I don't know anyone named Fain," Taylor replied as she fixed the short balding man with a less than impressed look as he was standing a bit too close.

"I recognize his wagon," Wit complained.

"Is he an older man, sort of shifty looking with large ears?" Taylor asked, thinking of the man she'd found with the trollocs.

"That describes him well enough," Nynaeve said, wondering why the girl had his wagon.

"He never said his name. When I asked him why he wanted out of the business, he grumbled something about being tired of traveling to villages at the end of nowhere and," Taylor paused as she glanced at the group of children in the crowd of villagers waiting to buy some of her wares, "some less than pleasant things about the weather and how he'd get more respect elsewhere. I needed a project and he liked the gems I had, so we made a deal," she lied, fairly sure they wouldn't believe her about the man bringing monsters to the area as he'd apparently been coming every year for as long as anyone could remember.

Nynaeve scowled as she thought about the man's tendency to grumble and tell stories she shouldn't. "He always liked complaining and telling dark stories. Why is your skin blue?"

Taylor shrugged. "I'm a void elf."

Wit snorted. "I've never heard of void elves."

"And you're an expert on magic and stories of legend?" Taylor asked with amusement.

"Magic? Are you from Tar Valon?" Wit asked warily.

"Is that a country?" Taylor asked, recognizing the name from when Fain had mentioned it in connection with magic.

"And a city," Thom offered, speaking up.

Taylor turned to look at the white haired man with a long mustache in a patchwork cloak. "I've never been to Tar Valon, what's it like?"

"It's a city of ancient stonework, deceit and magic thanks to the White Tower," Thom explained.

"Corrupt magic guild?" Taylor asked thoughtfully.

"That's one way to put it though I wouldn't say that to their faces," Thom warned her.

"I wasn't planning on it," Taylor replied.

"Are you saying you have magic?" Bodewhin Cauthon asked excitedly as she stepped out of the crowd of people that had been looking at the stuff on display.

"Maybe," Taylor replied as she turned to look at the attractive dark haired teenager with decent curves, using her inspection ability to check the girl for magic. 'Channeling, exceptional potential with Fire, Earth, Spirit, Water and Air, the other girls only had four of the elements. So much for magic being rare, I've been here less than twenty minutes and I've already found four people with magic.'

"Can you show us a trick?" Bodewhin asked hopefully.

Taylor reached out to near Bodewhin's ear and pulled a coin out of her inventory as she pulled her hand back. "How's that?" she asked as she flourished her hand, showing everyone the silver coin.

Wit snorted, rather unimpressed with the trick he'd seen a couple of gleemen pull off on children that didn't know better. "That's nothing a gleeman can't do."

'Horseshit,' Thom thought, having seen her pull the coin from thin air rather than palm it or any of the rest of the tricks he would have used. "Do you juggle?"

"I tried a couple of years ago, I wasn't particularly good at it," Taylor admitted as she flipped the silver coin to the girl with magic. "Can I bribe you into getting me some cider or something at the tavern? You can keep the change," she offered, figuring it would build up some good will for when she asked her about magic.

Bodewhin glanced at the thick coin then nodded and ran off as fast as her dress would let her before someone could stop her, giggling about the idea of showing her older brother how much she'd made.

"Cider?" Wit asked, surprised that she was willing to toss a silver away on cider.

"I like the taste and getting drunk when you have magic is never a good idea," Taylor explained as Shaper climbed out of the back of the wagon with a box filled with random 'junk'.

Nynaeve glanced between the girl with purple skin and the gleeman. "Have you ever heard of void elves?"

Thom studied the strangers as he considered the question for a few seconds. "I've heard a number of stories over the years from ages past. Do they have another name?"

"Possibly, we tend to get around," Taylor replied with amusement as she checked the gleeman and the young woman for magic. 'Make that five magic users and a bunch of people with the potential for magical descendants and some random magical talents. Yeah, Fain was full of shit.'

"I'd love to share some stories after you're done selling your wares," Thom offered, curious about the species he'd never heard of or couldn't place if he'd heard of them.

"I wouldn't mind sharing stories," Taylor replied with a grin then turned back to look at the short man when he coughed to get her attention. "You should get that cough looked at."

"Tricks aside, do you have magic?" Wit demanded ignoring her suggestion about the cough he didn't have.

"Does it matter?" Taylor asked as a short dark haired woman with a velvet blue cloak and expensive dress that didn't match the locals walked out of the inn with a tall middle aged man following her.

"Of course it matters, Aes Sedai aren't welcome here," Wit snapped.

"Who or what are Aes Sedai?" Taylor asked, wishing she had a cheat sheet as the various terms were strange.

"Witches, they cause trouble wherever they go," Wit complained.

"If you have rules about magic users, you should probably post them but if you insist, I'll be more than happy to leave." Taylor waited until he smirked then gestured at the rest of the crowd. "Feel free to explain to the nice people that you drove me off before they could buy their trinkets."

"I'll tell your wife," one of the women in the crowd snapped, not remotely interested in waiting for another merchant to show up before she grabbed a needle to replace the one she'd broken.

Thom glanced at the short woman with an Aes Sedai's face as she walked over. 'At least she's not wearing a red cloak.'

"Now see here, we have a right to be concerned," Wit argued.

Moiraine stared at the girls that were holding the Power or something that felt like the Power but not quite like the power which should be impossible and yet the girl with the blue skin was holding an impossible amount of it and didn't seem to be drawing it from anywhere. "Is there a problem?"

Nynaeve glared at Wit. "Wit was just trying to get himself in trouble."

"I'll tell the council," Wit complained.

"Last I checked, being able to channel wasn't illegal. It's also none of your business," Nynaeve warned him.

"Not everyone that can channel is an Aes Sedai," Thom pointed out, trying to help avoid someone starting trouble that would end badly.

"Can we get back to work?" Shaper asked Skitter.

"Yes," Nynaeve told the stranger as she took a step towards Wit and raised her stick a couple of inches.

"You wouldn't dare," Wit sputtered as he took a step back, fairly sure she'd hit him if he pushed it.

"No, I'll just tell your wife that you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," Nynaeve told him.

"Fine," Wit sputtered as he turned and stalked off towards the inn to find someone to complain to.

Lan studied the strangers, noticing that they looked far more fit than most merchants he'd ever dealt with outside of the Borderlands. 'At least they don't feel like Shadowspawn.'

"How long have you trained your abilities?" Moiraine asked, curious about the strangers that were holding something that felt like saidar but wasn't or she was wearing something that made it feel different.

"The road to discovery and learning never ends," Taylor replied as she used her inspection ability on the important looking woman on the off chance that she had magic or it gave her something beyond female and human. 'That's six magic users in a small village and she has active magical effects which means she's obviously a magic user of some sort.'

Moiraine studied the girl's expression. "Are you avoiding the question or is that a common phrase where you're from?" she asked, fairly sure it was something a Brown might say.

"A bit of both," Taylor admitted as she read through the description of the woman's active magical effects, wondering why someone would accept magical oaths/curses that shortened their lifespan without trying to figure out a way to break them. "Are you interested in trading information?"

Moiraine glanced at the girl walking out of the inn with a mug of cider. "I wouldn't mind a cup of tea."

"Shaper, can you deal with selling the rest of the goods while I get some information?" Taylor asked, knowing Shaper wouldn't want to pass up the chance to 'accidentally' touch people's hands when she handed them their purchase or took their coins so she could look at their genetics.

"Yes. I'll just ask people to give me a fair price," Shaper replied, not particularly concerned with making a profit since they'd found the wagon in the forest at the base of the trail Fain had used to reach the Waygate and they could always go fishing for something Skitter could turn into gems if they ran out of money.

"Works for me," Taylor replied as she turned and headed for the inn, smiling when the girl she'd given the coin to walked out with a mug.

Nynaeve glanced at Shaper then followed Taylor, hoping for some answers and wanting to make sure she wasn't a threat to the village.

Thom followed, curious about the strangers and wanting to make sure they weren't hustled off to the Tower without someone warning them.

Lan glanced at the gleeman then followed Moiraine, knowing she'd send the man on his way if she wanted to.

Bodewhin smiled as she handed the cider to Taylor. "Here."

"Thank you," Taylor replied then took a sip, finding it more sparkly than she'd been expecting but oddly tasty.

"Do you know somewhere people won't disturb us?" Moiraine asked Bodewhin, knowing the village council was using the back room of the inn and not wanting to deal with someone overhearing their conversation.

"If you don't mind the cold, you can sit outside under the tree, I doubt anyone will be out there with the weather," Bodewhin suggested.

"I don't mind the cold," Taylor replied.

"That's fine," Moiraine agreed, trusting her cloak to keep her warm enough.

"How many affinities do most witches have?" Taylor asked as they followed Bodewhin around the stone building.

"One or two, it's unusual to have three and no Aes Sedai has been able to prove to have all five affinities since the Trolloc wars as far as I'm aware," Moiraine offered. "Do you belong to an order of channelers?"

Taylor shook her head. "No, I belong to a guild of magic users, we can't channel or at least I can't."

"You're not channeling right now?" Moiraine asked as she studied the glow around the girl.

"I'm not currently using magic," Taylor replied as they slipped through a missing section in an old foundation/wall and entered a secluded courtyard with wooden tables arranged around an old oak tree.

"What other types of magic are there?" Bodewhin asked, not sure which stories of Aes Sedai to trust.

"I have a feeling it depends on the world," Taylor replied as she floated a foot off the ground, causing everyone to stare at her when they noticed. "Let me guess, you can't fly?"

"Not as a rule," Thom replied, familiar enough with the stories and Aes Sedai to know they couldn't fly using the Power or at least not without ter'angreal he wasn't sure existed.

"How?" Moiraine asked as she tried to figure out how to duplicate the dozens of threads of spirit and air she could see surrounding Skitter.

"Magic or at least a type of passive magic that doesn't drain our mana pools," Taylor explained then took another drink of her cider.

"Mana pools?" Bodewhin asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Mana is another name for magical energy, you generally have to spend mana to do magic but you don't always have to spend a noticeable amount of mana to pull off tricks or at least that's our current theory on how some of our abilities work," Taylor offered.

"Can you teach people to fly?" Bodewhin asked hopefully.

Taylor shook her head. "I wish, I can teach magic users a spell that will slow their fall and a spell to float off the ground a couple of inches but actual flight is an ability which means you'd have to talk Shaper into giving you the ability and we'd have to run some tests before we'd risk it as I don't know how it would interact with your magic potential."

"I have magic?" Bodewhin asked excitedly.

"You have the potential to channel or at least that's what one of my abilities says, it might be broken," Taylor admitted.

"What makes you think it's broken?" Thom asked.

"I asked Fain about magic users when I got to your world, he mentioned that less than one girl in a hundred has the potential to channel, that's clearly not the case," Taylor replied.

"It's close," Moiraine admitted. "At least on average."

Taylor glanced at Nynaeve as she took another sip of her cider. "How many people in town can channel?"

Nynaeve glanced at Moiraine. "None of the villagers can channel."

"My ability disagrees, I've seen six people that can channel, you're one of them," Taylor told Nynaeve.

Nynaeve snorted. "I'm fairly sure I would have noticed."

"It's not uncommon for people without training to use their abilities without realizing what they're doing. Have any of your remedies worked especially well when they shouldn't have?" Moiraine asked Nynaeve.

Nynaeve opened her mouth to say no then closed it when she realized there were a couple of cases over the years where her remedies had worked when they shouldn't have, typically when she was angry that there wasn't anything she could do to save people.

"Who are the other four?" Moiraine asked, knowing that pushing Nynaeve wouldn't help.

"You're one of them, one of them is a housewife, the other two were random girls," Taylor replied with a shrug.

"Does your ability work on men?" Bodewhin asked.

"It should," Taylor replied as she pointed at Thom. "He has the bloodline but doesn't have the potential."

"I had a nephew that could channel," Thom admitted.

Taylor pointed at Lan. "Your friend also has a blessing or curse on him, did you know that she can force you to do things with the bond?"

Lan glanced at Moiraine then focused on Taylor. "I'm aware, the bond has useful qualities."

"How much does your talent tell you?" Moiraine asked, wondering how useful her ability was.

"I get a list of talents, active magic and abilities. I know that you have three curses on you that are shortening your lifespan, I even know what they do. I just don't understand why you'd agree to it unless you didn't have a choice."

"Shortening her lifespan?" Lan asked warily.

"Basically she can't lie, use magic as a weapon with a couple of exceptions or create weapons with the power," Taylor replied then finished her cider.

"Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends were said to live longer," Moiraine mused, not particularly surprised that the oaths were responsible for the decline now that it was brought to her attention. "Can you get a sense of how powerful the other girls are?"

Taylor glanced at Nynaeve then focused on Moiraine. "I don't really understand the scale but you're the weakest channeler that I've seen."

"I'm the weakest?" Moiraine asked in surprise.

"Assuming I'm not misunderstanding how to read your abilities, everyone I've looked at has more potential," Taylor turned and looked as the side door to the inn opened and a dark haired girl in her late teens walked out with a couple of loaves of bread on a tray with a dish of partially melted butter.

"My mother thought you might be hungry," Egwene said as she held the tray out.

Taylor checked the young woman with her inspection ability and blinked when she saw her rather extensive collection of abilities. "Huh, that's new."

"Seven?" Moiraine asked, hiding her surprise at finding seven people with the potential to channel in a small village.

"How much for the breed?" Taylor asked, wondering if it was worth it or if she should just conjure something.

"Lady Alys paid enough to cover it," Egwene said as she handed Lan the tray when he stepped forward to take it.

Taylor blinked and shivered when she got a vision of trollocs and fades attacking the town at night and setting fire to things when they weren't dying because people were stabbing them with pitchforks or shooting them full of arrows.

"Are you alright?" Egwene asked, noticing the look on the stranger's face and how she'd gone pale and seemed to be staring off into space.

"Sorry, one of my abilities is a bit annoying, I occasionally catch flashes of the future, usually when something horrible is going to happen like monsters attacking," Taylor replied.

"Shadowspawn don't come south of the blight," Nynaeve snapped.

"When?" Lan asked, knowing the Dark One was hunting for the Dragon Reborn and might have a better idea where to find him than they did.

"It was night, I saw a large pole in the middle of the green," Taylor offered.

Egwene winced. "Bel Tine is tomorrow."

"Sorry, I thought I dealt with the trollocs earlier," Taylor complained.

"Dealt with them?" Lan asked in concern.

Taylor glanced between Bodewhin and Egwene. "Don't scream, it's dead."

"What makes you think…" Bodewhin trailed off as Taylor pulled a monstrous, vaguely humanoid head with goat horns out of thin air.

"Light!" Egwene sputtered as she jumped back, surprised by the trick and the dead monster head.

"That's not a trick is it?" Thom asked warily as he studied the trolloc head that was dripping blood.

"No, they came through the Waygate in the mountains, I thought I'd killed all of them but apparently not," Taylor complained.

"They shouldn't be able to travel through the Ways," Moiraine told her as she studied the trolloc head. "That's fresh."

Taylor nodded. "I burned the ones I found earlier today then headed to town with Fain's wagon, I kept this one in case I needed to show people."

"Why were you near the Waygate?" Moiraine asked.

"That's where the portal to this world dropped me, probably because of the Waygate." Taylor stuck the trolloc head back in her inventory and used a cleaning spell on the ground to remove the drops of blood. "They attacked as soon as they saw us."

"How many?" Lan asked, trying to get an idea of what they had to deal with.

"Forty trollocs, a fade and one insane peddler," Taylor replied with a shrug.

"You killed forty trollocs and a fade?" Lan asked sceptically.

"They felt like sewage and the fade was ordering the monsters to kill us, so yeah, I killed them then I had a chat with the peddler about the monsters and about magic," Taylor replied.

"They'd captured Fain?" Nynaeve asked.

Taylor shook her head. "Considering he was ranting about some demon or dark god like a cultist, I don't think they had to capture him."

"Did you kill him?" Nynaeve asked warily.

"No, he was ranting about his god or demon being able to get answers from the dead so we tossed him into the void between worlds. Hopefully, his patron can't reach him there but the monsters Shaper and I killed can probably tell his boss that they were killed by a blue skinned witch, unless he was lied to about that particular ability," Taylor said, hoping they weren't dealing with a god.

"There are stories and the Dark One is known as the Lord of the Grave," Thom said thoughtfully, hoping the Dark One didn't have enough freedom to talk to the dead.

Moiraine glanced at Thom then focused on Taylor. "Did you close the Waygate?"

Taylor turned to look at Moiraine. "I moved both leaves to the outside which should keep people from opening it from the inside, assuming he wasn't lying."

"That should work, provided someone doesn't unlock it from this side," Moiraine said thoughtfully.

"Why should we believe you about Fain?" Nynaeve asked. "I know he was unpleasant and had a morbid sense of humor but you're accusing him of being a darkfriend."

"Maybe someone took his face or maybe something drove him insane, the guy I ran into was ranting about immortality and ruling part of the world when his patron was released from some prison. I found the wagon at the base of the trail in the hills," Taylor explained.

"And you decided to sell everything he had?" Nynaeve demanded.

"It seemed appropriate, he wanted to destroy the town or he didn't care if it was destroyed as long as he found the people he was looking for, why should I let his stuff rot in the woods when we can put it to use?" Taylor asked as she inspected Lan's sword.

"Because it's not yours," Nynaeve snapped.

"So I should have let it rot in the woods?" Taylor asked sarcastically as she read the details on Lan's magic sword. 'Extremely durable and immune to rust, I might need to figure out how they made it.'

"You shouldn't have killed him," Nynaeve argued.

"Let's ignore the part where I merely opened the portal that Shaper shoved him through for a second. Do you have somewhere you can lock a cultist up for the rest of his life where he can't kill himself?" Taylor asked, fairly sure the answer was no.

"What makes you think he would have killed himself?" Nynaeve asked.

"Whatever demon he worshipped sent him to find people in your town, people that are key to letting him break his prison and escape, it's not going to take failure well. If he finds them and dies, he probably won't get tortured for eternity which means he'd make up a sob story and try to get the boys he's looking for to visit him in prison or in whatever shack you stick him in, after that, he'd merely kill himself or wait until you send him elsewhere and escape so he can tell people that he found the person he's looking for," Taylor suggested.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Nynaeve snapped, falling silent when she got angry enough to see the firestorm of magic swirling around Taylor. "What in the light is that?" she asked, staring at Taylor in horror.

Taylor spun around and looked behind her. "What did you see?"

"I believe she's talking about your magic," Moiraine suggested as she studied Nynaeve's expression.

"What about it?" Taylor asked as she turned back to look at Moiraine.

"Channelers can sense the Power or at least we can once we've touched the source and learned to control our abilities," Moiraine explained. "Wilders often have a subconscious block that stops them from seeing the Power or using it unless certain conditions are met."

Taylor sighed as she realized that sneaking around wasn't going to work. "So much for sneaking around."

"What are you going to do once you hunt the trollocs down?" Thom asked, cutting in before things could get sidetracked worse than they already were.

Taylor glanced at the man with the patchwork cloak. "No idea, are there magic shops that sell magic items or books of spells?"

Moiraine shook her head. "Ter'angreal are rare, they haven't been made since The Breaking and you won't find most weaves written down, it's easier to just teach people in person where you can see the weave than trying to describe it."

"Breaking?" Taylor asked as she glanced between the rest of the group. "You say that like I should recognize the term."

Thom glanced at Moiraine. "About three thousand years ago the Dragon sealed the Dark One's prison, its counterattack corrupted half of the magic in the world, namely the half that men can use. Every male channeler eventually went insane and tried to destroy the world, cities were burned out of existence, mountains leveled or pulled up out of the seas and civilization was shattered."

"Lovely, has anyone fixed the magic yet?" Taylor asked, wondering if she was going to have to deal with it or if she should just jump worlds and not worry about it.

Moiraine took one of the loaves of bread and tore a piece off. "The Aes Sedai tried for years before giving up. Now they just cut off their access to magic to prevent another breaking."

Thom scowled as he remembered his nephew. "Unless they're Reds then they cut off their access and leave the crowds to kill them."

"Reds?" Taylor asked.

"The tower has seven Ajahs or major groups, the Red Ajah are primarily concerned with capturing male channelers, the Green with battles and fighting shadowspawn, the Blues with various causes, the Yellows with healing, the Whites with logic, the Greys with laws and negotiations, the Browns with knowledge and books," Moiraine explained.

"The White Tower generally considers any ter'angreal to be property of the Tower, so I'd be careful if you have any magical items from your world," Thom suggested.

"Thanks for the warning," Taylor replied as she gestured towards the bread. "Do you mind if I have a piece?"

Moiraine dipped her piece of bread in the butter. "Be my guest."

Lan took one of the loaves then handed Taylor the tray.

"Thanks," Taylor replied as she set her empty mug on the tray. She conjured her floating grimoire and stuck the tray on it. "That's better."

Bodewhin snickered. "Where did you get the floating book?"

"It's my grimoire, it holds my spells, library and my notes," Taylor explained as she ripped a piece of bread off and dipped it in the butter.

"Aren't you worried about it being damaged?" Egwene asked, surprised that she was using something valuable for a table.

"No, it's just a temporary copy. I get a new one every time I cast the spell," Taylor replied with a grin. "Speaking of spells, it doesn't take any mana or at least not an appreciable amount, do you want to try casting it?"

Egwene glanced at Nynaeve. "What happens if I mess up?"

"Then the spell fails, you should be fine," Taylor replied with a shrug.

"Why do you want her to test it?" Nynaeve asked suspiciously.

"I'm curious if she can make it work," Taylor admitted. "I'd ask one of the men but that sounds like a remarkably bad idea given the nature of the world's magic on the off chance that using the spell allows the corruption to seep in."

Thom shook his head. "I'd rather not risk it."

"Same," Lan agreed, knowing that Moiraine didn't need to deal with an insane warder.

"Does that mean you have men that can use magic without going insane in your world?" Bodewhin asked.

"Sure," Taylor replied with a shrug. "Everyone uses their internal mana, why would there be a difference?"

Thom shook his head. "Good luck convincing the Reds that your friends are safe."

"What do I have to do?" Egwene asked.

"Give me a second." Taylor cast her teaching spell and gave Egwene knowledge of how to cast the grimoire spell. "Try it."

Egwene blinked a couple of times when she realized she knew how to cast a spell. "How?"

"I have a spell for teaching spells, it saves a couple of weeks in the library studying dusty old books," Taylor explained.

Egwene cast the spell and smiled as a slender grimoire appeared floating in front of her. "I wasn't expecting that to actually work."

"That wasn't channeling," Moiraine said thoughtfully, surprised that the innkeeper's daughter had managed to conjure the book.

"Can I try?" Bodewhin asked as Egwene opened her grimoire.

"Sure," Taylor replied with a grin then cast her teaching spell and taught Bodewhin the spell. "That should record every spell you learn, I'm not sure how well it will work for the native spells but there are other uses for the grimoire."

"What type of uses?" Thom asked as he glanced at the rather basic index in Egwene's book that showed three sections, 'Spells, Books, Notes.'

Taylor glanced at Moiraine. "I think I'll wait until the Aes Sedai leaves, I might want to visit their library."

Moiraine pulled her attention away from Egwene's book. "Let me guess, you can copy books into it?"

"Technically, you just have to touch the grimoire to the book you want to carry," Taylor replied with a grin.

"The Browns would kill for something like that," Thom said, only half joking.

"They'd certainly try rather hard to get a copy of the spell," Moiraine admitted. "Do you have any other spells you're willing to teach?"

Taylor shook her head. "Not at present or at least not for free."

"Blast, I've got less than a silver to my name," Bodewhin complained. "I don't suppose I can run errands for spells?"

"I'm sure I can think of a couple of things I need help testing," Taylor replied, curious if she could teach Bodewhin Azeroth tailoring or one of the other professions.